HomeNewsPeople’s Council of Soc Trang Province has approved waste water tariff

People’s Council of Soc Trang Province has approved waste water tariff

Created on 18 October 2010

BREAKING NEWS

The WWM Project is proud to announce that a major step in the creation of sustainable framework conditions for wastewater management in Vietnam has been achieved in August this year.

As very first local authority in Vietnam, the People's Council of Soc Trang Province has pointed the way ahead for the introduction of a cost-covering wastewater tariff that is in line with the Government's requirements set in Decree No. 88/2007/NĐ-CP. As officially announced in the People's Council's Resolution No. 08/2010/NQ-HĐND the introduction of the tariff shall take effect from January 1, 2011 and last for two years until the tariff shall be revised and adjusted according to updated data on local conditions.

The introduction of such type of charges for wastewater is a complete novelty to Vietnam and is a direct result of the WWM project's ceaseless efforts over the past five years of cooperation. The approved tariff structure matches the proposal that was elaborated by the local wastewater service provider (Soc Trang Urban Public Works (UPWC) One Member Limited Company) in close cooperation with the WWM advisory team.

Starting from January 2011, additionally to the usual charges for water supply, the city's households, offices and industries that are connected to the centralized sewerage system will have to pay for the costs arising for the collection and (later-on) treatment of their sewerage. Accordingly, the currently collected environmental protection fees based on the Government Decree No. 67/2003/NĐ-CP will not apply for those dischargers anymore. The People's Council approved tariff levels for the different customer categories as follows:

Category Tariff (VND/m3)

Households 1.700,-

Government offices 1.700,-

Trading and service units 2.550,-

Production units 3.400,-

For dischargers who also receive piped water supply services, the new charges for wastewater will be collected via the water bill and transferred directly to the wastewater company. Other dischargers who are not yet water supply customers but do discharge their wastewater to the public collection system will be charged on separate bills, directly by the wastewater operator. The total money collected will stay directly in the wastewater operator's accounts and will be used to cover the costs for operation and maintenance (O&M) of the city's sewerage system.

The Soc Trang UPWC is now requested to take the necessary measures to collect required customer data and inform the population to allow for a timely begin of fee collection in January 2011.

The WWM advisory team sincerely hopes for a spill-over effect of these positive developments in Soc Trang to other provinces and cities in Vietnam. Without proper wastewater tariffs in place, no sustainable and effective O&M of sewerage and drainage assets can be ensured anywhere